Hidden History Of Britain

Deserted villages, abandoned prisons, empty hospitals and derelict military bases… there is a treasure trove of crumbling buildings across Britain lying dormant, untouched for decades and frozen in time.

In this series Michael Portillo will roll up his sleeves to become a guerrilla urban explorer of Britain’s most exciting abandoned buildings.

Prizing open the doors of each grand, historic and now derelict building, Michael will turn detective to unearth clues amongst the rubble and reveal the fascinating stories their walls once bore witness to.

As we explore each dust-covered building, unearth revealing archive and meet with the men and women who have personal memories of each location, we will uncover secrets about our forgotten but not too distant past.

Series 1 - Episode 2

Strewn along the windswept expanses of the Suffolk coast lie some of modern Britain's most mysterious ruins. Monumental concrete bunkers, rusting radar towers and crumpled military hardware lie scattered over 2,500 acres of shingle, their desolate beauty a lens into a bygone era of secrets, spies and superpowers. In this episode, Michael explores these obscure, abandoned structures and rifles through the piles of leftover documents to unravel the secrets that have been kept hidden from the British public for decades.

Series 1 - Episode 1

For more than 250 years, the Royal London Hospital has been at the forefront of some of the most significant events in British medical history. Situated in the heart of London's East End, it was founded at a time when the area was predominantly home to merchant seamen and factory workers. It was built by a charity to serve the poor immigrants whose lives in filthy slums were blighted by disease and injury. Closed since 2013, the hospital building is due to be transformed into the new Tower Hamlets town hall, but not before Michael kicks open the doors to peel back the layers of history inside.